Why is Canada the Dominate Force in Hockey?

It has often been said that hockey is “Canada’s game”, and it is. In large part, that is because we are a northern country and the sport has long been a national staple of our national life and part of our cultural fabric. It doesn’t matter what language we speak or where you live in Canada, hockey is never far from view, and at times like last week, never far from the national consciousness.

Many countries have outstanding and world class hockey players. Several come to mind such as Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland, Russia,  Czechia, Belarus, United States. But at the very highest level, Canada has always been the country to beat.

In 1972 – just over 50 years ago – in a tournament known as the “Summit Series” the very best hockey players from Canada played against the very best from the Soviet Union.  It was the first time that the Soviet national team played against Canada’s best, represented by professional players of the National Hockey League (NHL). The series was organized with the intention to create a true best-against-best competition. The Soviets had become the dominant team in international hockey competitions, in which the Canadian professionals (who played in the NHL or WHA) were ineligible to play. Canada had had a long history of dominance of the sport prior to the Soviets’ rise.

In 1972, Canada was a different place. We won that tournament, but in the very final game of a gruelling series. The roster on that team was made up primarily of Anglo-Saxon and French-Canadian names, with a few notable exceptions: Esposito, Mikita, Mahovlich.

Last week, just over 50 years after that famous Summit Series, Team Canada won the gold medal in the World Junior Hockey Championship final against Czechia. And among the names of the players on this 2023 team are Milic, Stankoven, Othmann, Ostapchuk, Guenther, Fantilli, Zellweger, Nause, Korchinski, Del Mastro.  Their roots are from somewhere other than Canada.

Yet, all of them sang “Oh, Canada” with energy, passion, commitment, and heart.

The strength and dominance of the Canadian junior national team is owed in no small measure to a Canadian culture that draws power from the diversity of its people and forged from the ethos of its immigrant population and heritage.

In today’s NHL, the top point getters have names like Makar, Kucherov, Draisaiti, Palat, Panarin, Lehkonen, Teravainen, Kyrou. It is a virtual United Nations of the best of the best from all corners of the globe. Hockey and sports in Canada, in general, is open and welcoming to any race, greed, colour, sexual orientation or religious affiliation. That is who we are.

The game of hockey has never been at such as high level of performance because of it. But hockey isn’t the only sport where Canada has benefitted from immigration.  The team Canada fielded in the FIFA World Cup last December in Qatar boast a diverse group of 22 players whose families have emigrated from all over the world, making them truly representative of Canada’s multicultural makeup. From the Trinidadian parents of Atiba Hutchinson, Milan Borjan who was born and raised until he was a teenager in Croatia, Jonathan David was born over the border in New York to Haitian parents, and the list goes on.

Canada has only appeared in the World Cup on two occasions; last December, and before that, 1986. Over the past three decades in Canada, and from a standing start, soccer (football) has developed into a widely watched sport and one that an increasing number of young people are playing. Immigration has done that. And because of that, Canada’s standing in these competitions will only improve in the future.

In many ways, Canada’s national sport has become a microcosm of the country itself: An open, welcoming place where hard work, talent and intelligence is the only real price of entry.  Canada’s openness to immigrants is what will continue to make this enviable nations one of the best places on earth in which to live, work, study, and of course, play – at the very highest levels.